


Fate is a Lot of Work

by Teddy_Feathers



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Magic learning, Monsters on the Surface, Multi, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Red String of Fate, Slow Burn, Worldbuilding, frisk is the determined soul obvs, humans lost the war, oc Aigas Preserverance soul, oc Duaom Justice soul, oc Hitch Bravery soul, oc Kazoo Patience soul, oc Oseda Integrity soul, oc Ralok Kindness soul, pretty oc centric honestly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-03 14:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10249361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teddy_Feathers/pseuds/Teddy_Feathers
Summary: Humans lost the war and were banished under the mountain for countless generations. But they're nothing if not adaptable and thrive as best they can.Until one magical week a Monster Kid falls into the underground, and with the help of his new found friend and fellow orphan Frisk manage to pass through the barrier hand in hand as friends, breaking the curse.But are humans and monsters ready to let go of the past and live peaceful lives side by side? Or is history doomed to repeat itself?





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Compu's broke for the time being meaning I dont have easy access to my drafts. So to tide me over here's an idea I've been toying around with for a while. 
> 
> This is done in a shoddy phone notepad so sorry for more than usual errors. 
> 
> And sorry for all the dramatic nonsense ~ figured out recently the reason its so hard for me to update is that I'm much better at figuring out the summary or idea of a story than I am actually at making the story itself come to life. 
> 
> Oh I think Kazoo is the MC POV but maybe we'll hop around as needbe. 
> 
> Anywho have a good day.

Perhaps the saddest part of discovering the red thread of fate was knowing that everything was inevitable. That the juggernaut was pushing you to some foretold conclusion that all your efforts were in effect meaningless.

Unchangeable.

Choice played no part in your fate.

Fate like being born on the wrong side of the mountain. 

Once upon a time there was a war between man and monster... and man lost.

No matter how you wanted to skew the story could you change humanity's fate.

Their current reality.

Monsters were made of hope love and compassion and no matter how you spun the tale human's came out sounding like the villians. So it was our fate to be sealed like some ancient evil under the mountain.

All of our sorcerers had died in the war,  technology couldn't break the barrier erected to keep us subdued, only a bond of true friendship between the two races could free us.

And that was a predetermined point in time. 

There is no changing or arguing with fate, no what ifs or might have beens. Its a story already written and reguardless of the ending that makings the tale a tragedy don't you think? 

Two souls, one monster and one human, had everything they needed between them to break the barrier separating the races. The best of friends they hatched a plan and the monster's royal heir fell into the underground.

Both childern died due to the cruely of man, but the monster had absorbed the human soul and crossed the barrier so the conditions were met...but the curse did not lift. 

The King swore humans would never be allowed to leave, that monsters were forever banned from going to the mountain. That the barrier's failure to break was proof humanity was too cruel to ever deserve mercy.

The most beautiful feild of daffodils grew just outside the barrier, tantalizingly out of reach, and for many generations a large shadow and the occational glimpse of white furr was the only proof humans had that monsters still exsited up there on the surface.

Fate doesn't care for decrees of kings, cruelty of humans, or limitations of any sort though. 

Somehow an adventurous armless monster kid fell into the underground. Somehow a human orphan became his friend. Somehow together they charmed their way into being unharmed. Somehow the barrier was broken.

Fate doesn't care that humans weren't ready for this, that many still had hatred in thier hearts. Fate didn't care that time had not eased the bitter feelings of loss between the two races. Fate had a destination in mind and would drag us to it it whether we wanted to go there, whether any of us deserved to get there or not. 

* * *

 

It had taken a long time for Kazoo to figure out what fate had planned for her.

She had grown up like many yearning for a sky no one living had ever seen or would ever hope to see.

It took several hiccups in time for her to notice days, even weeks were repeating, and even then it wasn't that she remembered so much as she had the strongest sense of deja vu.

The odd feeling of knowing what was going to happen right as did, was also tied into a slow growing ability to see the threads of fate. 

Or at least that was what Kazoo was calling them. 

There was of course the traditional red string of intertwined destiney that latched two people, or a person and a purpose together but there were also other colors, other ties and bonds. 

And the more she felt as if she'd already been here and done this all a thousand times over, the more Kazoo's ability to see and interpret these threads grew.

After a while it was clear, though she had no way of marking the passing of time in a world that jumped back and started over at uneven intervals, that they had repeated this week for ages, perhaps years. 

Over the course of that time Kazoo noticed a heavy red thread was slowly tying and binding everyone under the mountain to one small orphan child.

One small orphan child who'd lost their parents in a cave in a month back, who's independent bent made them difficult to keep track of by the best of the foster families, who was a loner until suddenly they had an unrecognized friend about their age.

While human the population saturated the mountain by the time you reached adulthood you more or less knew everyone. Kazoo would have particularly been hard pressed to forget a child born with a not quite so carefully concealed tail.

It was inevitable that the kids would eventually break the barrier. That red thread of fate only got thicker the more time passed, and only connected more people to it the more the kids retraced their steps.

The worrisome part for Kazoo wasn't the time lapses that she only vaugly remembered - and only because she grew better at reading the threads the more time passed - or even how obvious it seemed that humans weren't ready to peacefully reunite with monsters as a whole.

But the faint blue thread that stretched out past the barrier saying something or someone was waiting for them on the otherside. The day the barrier broke it had turned a bright scarlet of inescapable fate before fading back into the steady blue of waiting. 

Scarlet - Kazoo had had what felt like years to learn as the childern tried and failed and tried again to reach the end of the mountain - did not always mean love but it always was a soulmate.

A bond so intense and important there was only ever room for one.

And her's was on the surface.

Waiting.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I know it starts out all dramatic but uh in my defense... Uh PROLOGUE. Surely I'm allowed unnecessary dramatic monologue for that? 
> 
> Anyways got a rough draft of the next chapter almost done so fingers crossed that'll be up within the next couple of days and you'll get to meet the rest of our sorcerers/ souls. Also first meeting between monsters and man in generations.


	2. We're not out yet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter is much longer than the first and the third is already shaping up to be longer so thats cool. 
> 
> I know no one really cares about ocs but I really like the seven souls and the idea of things being swapped this way... Its a lot of fun to explore and I kinda feel like I'm building these character's into individuals not background props for the main characters so thats something at least.
> 
> I didn't shove everyone's back ground or prospective ar once but I'll get to them all eventually. I think.
> 
> Any who thanks for reading and let me know whatcha think.

Six people stood where the barrier once had.

Kazoo could feel the strings of fate developing and tying them all together at a faster rate than she'd ever seen any grow except for the human child who'd obviously crossed just hours before - but she couldn't look away from the view in front of them to see what it meant.

The six of them had  _felt_ the barrier go down. 

Despite having been watching the large red thread develop... She hadn't really thought the kids would manage it. The other five seemed equally awed,  _nothing_ was separating them from that field of daffodils. They could cross over. 

This was big, important...and for several minutes they stood there, hesitating. Until finally, one took a step foward. 

* * *

 

It was Hitch of course. Light weight boxer who was favored to win the cup for his devision. His frizzy red hair was held out of his face by a stained sweatband, and his gloves were tied together and drapped over his neck. 

Hitch hadn't really noticed the clock winding back - he spent most of his time working out and trainning and repetition was a large part of that. But at some point he began getting better at seeing the quickest way through obstacles. 

For his fighting that just meant he was getting better at going in hard and fast and droping his opponent before the match had really started, but he also noticed more now outside of the ring. 

He started responding to issues before they happened. The cave in on tuesday had Hitch as one of the first responders, and he'd been the reason they'd dug out every person before they ran out of air or died due to complications with their injuries.

It was like he just knew there was one more person, and one more after that, all the way to the end of that tunnel and  _knew_ beyond a shadow of a doubt he'd gone from one side to the other and gotten everyone out before the rubble had been cleared. 

It had been the relief that had nagged at him. He knew they'd gotten everyone in time, and it felt like at one point they hadn't. And thats when he'd noticed the kids.

They had been crossing all over the underground and he'd vaugly recognized one of them as that orphan kid that was always in trouble. There was something about them though... Like they were up to something.

And the more he kept an eye on them the more he felt like they were following a pattern, unerringly to some final destination that would change everything. 

When Hitch felt the barrier go down he'd just known it was because of them.

* * *

  

Together they hovered just on the edge of where the barrier had always been and then Hitch, jaw set, took a single step foward.

Nothing happened. 

There was a beat of silence and then Ralok - carefully tucking the frying pan he'd been carrying, as if he'd just been about ready to cook dinner when he'd been called away, into the large pocket on the front of his stained apron - walked foward a few steps to kneel down and touch a daffodil.

It bent slightly under his touch and bounced back merrily. He looked back at the others who still stood frozen on the other side of that invisible line and with awe in his voice he said "It's real!" 

Of course it was real but that wasn't what they had doubted, what they had feared and now, now hope was soaring in all of them and as one they rushed foward  _free -_

\- "Wait!" Kazoo's voice rang out, echoing oddly in the corridor. 

And maybe it was because of this new bond she could see tightening around them, or maybe it was because of that instinctual awareness they all shared that this all could vanish in an instant... The other five hesitated and looked back at her. 

They waited for an explanation and it came in the form of metal stomping towards them. From outside.

 Fists clenched at his sides Hitch took several steps foward, only to find his way blocked by Ralok. 

Ralok was as tall as he was wide, and the serious expression seemed at odds with the laugh lines around his eyes. Hitch crossed his arms but let the other stand in front. He might be a fighter, but Ralok would be in the upper weight class. If it came down to it, things would go faster if the big guy went first.

Not that Ralok intended to fight, but everyone tensed when the fully clad knight in black armor rounded the corner. 

The figure - looking like they'd stepped out of a story book's crossing - marched just up to where the flowers ended and stopped.

The message was pretty clear. To leave they'd have to go through them. 

"So that's it then." Aigas adjusted his cokebottle glasses. "They're coming to put it back up." The scrawny teen didn't sound like he cared one way or another, but the way his left hand clenched at his note book said he did very much.

The girl with the almond eyes and cowboy hat on moved closer to him, eyes never leaving the knight, right hand hovering by her gun holster. "They won't." Duaom stated firmly. "A deal's a deal, and we kept our side." 

 Aigas looked between her and the unmoving figure blocking the way, gulped, and took a step back. It seemed very clear that the monster's would not go unpunished for trying to go back on their word. 

Finally it seemed Hitch's patience had worn thin. "The barrier is broken. Like Duaom said, we're free to go." He brushed past Ralok, furiously intent on going _through_ the knight but again Kazoo's voice rang out to stop him.

"Wait!" This time not a demand but a plea. A dark blue thread was tying the knight to their spot. Duty. She knew, just knew, it wouldn't end well if anyone pushed foward much further.

 Turning his back on the monster he glared at Kazoo. "Why should I? We've been waiting!"

She could see there were no ties to what was behind them anymore, when he said we they all felt that meant them. In the us against them spectrum the six of them were separate from both the monsters and the humans. They could all feel it, just as at his words they were all sure they'd stood at this moment before. 

Kazoo understood his frustration, but she could feel it - see it - that if this escalated any further the thread of fate the child had made would snap them all back to the beginning and that was worse. She wasn't sure any of them could take that.

"Wait." She repeated softer, hands raised as if in supplication. 

Hitch wanted to argue, wanted to rage and bully their way through the statuesque figure in their way. Together he was sure they could do it. But then? 

Even he could see that while that would solve their immediate problem the wouldn't truely be free. There was an entire surface up there full of monsters. But there was something in him that felt desperate. Trapped. Like they'd never get out if they didn't find a way to force the issue. 

They had all dropped what they were doing and rushed over here the moment the barrier fell. Like they'd been waiting for it. Like they'd known. Unconsciously they were aware that they were stuck on loop. That they hadn't gotten past this point.

Hitch didn’t want to wait anymore. There had to be some way to move foward. They - he - needed to move foward. He couldn't stand to wait.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him before he turned fully back around to given in and attack the knight.

It was Oseda.

Tall, lithe, graceful. Her face wasn't beautiful or delicate the way her body was, instead it was striking - maybe even commanding. Her attitude was as brisk and no nonsense as her hair was unforgivingly wound ontop of her head. 

The contrast between the free moving tulle skirt around her waist and the controlled way she held herself were captivating and Hitch found himself frozen under her stern look.

"First diplomacy, then action." Oseda said evenly. "The war was a long time ago, and we were both the aggressors and the losers. We need to make a show of good faith to prove that we've come a long way since then." She looked around, meeting everyone's eyes individually. "Not be the first to rekindle old grievances."

Under the heavy weight of her dark eyes he swallowed and nodded despite himself. Oseda removed her hand and it was like a spell had been broken. 

Suddenly tired Hitch stat amoungst the flowers and touched them gently to see them bob and sway. 

She sat beside him, droping down in a smooth motion and started tightening the laces of her hastily shoved on tennishoes. Like Hitch her shoes were tied together and slung around her neck. Unlike him she didn't compete or preform, instead she taught dance. Canceling her class early wasn't an issue though as for some reason she'd scheduled it early. Now she knew why.

 The other's took their que from them, getting comfortable as they waited. 

Kazoo's legs felt weak as she sat, leaning against the smooth stone where the barrier had once been. Aigas's shoulders lost their tense hunch and he sat scribbling away in his notebook. Duaom kept her attention on the knight, but leaned against the wall with her arms crossed content to let them make the first move.

Ralok though remained facing the heavily armored figure. He had been quiet unlike the rest and they hadn't considered the cook would do anything.

To everyone's shock and dismay, no sooner had everyone got settled before he reached into his apron and approached the knight. 

A blue spear cracked into existence beside them and their helmet tilted down seeingly glaring at him, but he paid it no mind. Instead he pulled out a granola bar and offered it out, hand flat and up raised.

After a moment where everyone except the smiling Ralok held their breath fearing the worst, the spear vanished and a gauntlet gently plucked the item from his hand. 

Satisfied he nodded and then began passing out snacks to the rest of them. When he reached Kazoo she finally let out a shakey breath. "That was dangerous." 

Ralok shrugged and stat beside her, careful of the fryingpan in his apron. "She's wearing all that metal and is stuck waiting with us. Never hurts to help." He took a bite of his bar. "Besides, it'll settle our stomachs and people who've broke bread together are more likely to remember their manners." 

Aigas snorted without looking up from his notebook. "Manners. Right. Because it's rude to murder one another during a meal." 

Leaning over a bit, Duaom patted his fluffy hair. "That's right." Unperturbed by the glare he shot her, she righted herself and shrugged. "Its an old tradition for making peace." 

From where she sat Oseda said in a hard voice "Breaking that sign of trust, being brought into someone's home or offering someone care only to betray them is more than just rude. Its unforgivable."

There was a quiet moment of reflection on that as they ate and considered the old tradition. It was Hitch who broke the silence. 

"If you listen you can hear the wind."

 

* * *

 

It wasnt a suprise how long they waited - long enough for the lights under the mountain to go dim into the standbye night phase - what was a surprise though was how no one noticed.

The barrier just _was_ for longer than living memory could account for, and the momentous event of its breaking went unnoticed unfelt by everyone...

Except the six of them. 

The longer they waited though, the clearer the thread linking them together appeared to Kazoo. 

It was translucent but not fragile looking, it seemed... Strong like fishing line and it gleemed in the faint light, cycling through all the colors she'd ever seen in a thread and streaching out in a faint red line up and out of their prison to...

She couldn't say why, but it felt like to the human child who had being laying down the heavy read thread of fate that was intent on drawing them out of their prison.

Most of the other's had nodded off listening to the wind - air was circulated mechanically through the tunnels and they were the first in many generations to hear what was only described in stories.

Aigas was one of the few still awake, using a flashlight to sketch in his note book. Earlier she'd seen him sneak a daffodil into the back of it. Flowers didn’t grow much except in greenhouses which had to prioritize growing food to sustain them all.

It was understandable really. He was the youngest of them there and while some like Hitch and Duaom we're set on getting out, he was obviously leaning more towards pragmatism than hope.

If the monsters wanted to shove them back in the hole there wasn't a lot they could do about it.

The dark blue line tying their gaurd in place and never wavered and neither did their silent sentry. She must have complete self mastery to not have moved in so long...or maybe the armor held her up.

 Kazoo didn't question how they knew the gaurd was a she, or even how they all already knew each other's names. They had been here before obviously, and even as they - as she - waited she could feel the need to act building in her. 

 Soon she'd have to do... Something. And it had to be the _right_ something or they'd have to do this all again with nerves that were even more frayed.

Antsy, she pulled her embroidery hoop from her bag and attempted to make progress on her current project. The poor lighting meant Kazoo stabbed herself more than the cloth, but at least it kept her busy and sane.

The humans had figured out long ago that the lack of natural light played havoc on the human system. They had the technology to have a light system to mimick a day and night cycle and even produce uv rays but it wasn't quite enough. They had to substitute it with other things.

Schooling was mandatory until adulthood, as were hobbies. It was prefered that childern had several with at least one being physical, and they often carried into special interests into adulthood. 

It helped in a way, keeping busy and active kept the darkenss and pressure of the mountian at bay some. You'd think after several generations human kind would have gotten used to it but hardly a month went by that someone didn't succumb to what was once known as seasonal depression. 

Humans were hardy and adaptive but it was hard to keep up hope underground. 

So they all had hobbies, activities, different areas of the underground had their own teams and competed against one another in everything from sports to the arts. Even after you joined the workforce you were still expected to be involved in something beyond that, and the police kept a watchful eye to help prevent any... Mountain madness related accidents. 

Hitch boxed but also volunteered as an emergency responder. Duaom's family raised livestock and competed in what was left of the rodeo. Aigas was actually in graduate school despite his age, but competed in timed sketching competitions because no one would let the teen drop all his mandatory hobbies so he could research more. Oseda spent her free time in the gardens helping the growers and trying to keep their small flower plot intact. Ralok the cook traveled between different kitchens all over the underground, and while that was all be did it was both enough to keep him busy and there was no doubt the constantly smiling man was happy. Kazoo embroidered - slowly and owed any success at it more to time than talent - and did tai chi because it was soothing. 

She could use some of that calm motion now, but it'd possibly look threatening and she didn't want to raise the tension in the corridor again. Besides, despite her smarting fingertips, her focus allowed her to reach into the memories of things that never happened.

Nothing useful, and the second Kazoo really focused on it they vanished like so much smoke but... In her minds eye she sat huddled with the others, sharing their lives with one another as if their voices could chase away their fear of whatever was coming for them. It felt more real, more binding than the thread that was weaving them together.

They had been building their relationship over and over. It was them binding to each other, not fate. It was a choice they had made not inescapable destiny and that made her feel more in control than she had through out this deja vu filled week. 

Finally came the sound of padded feet.

The sound was new and louder than any they had made in the last several hours and the heavy sound roused them all.

 Some anxiously, some calmly, they all put away their things and stood. Waiting, but not for much longer.

The knight stepped aside with a slute just as a massive white furred monster in purple robes rounded the corner.

Flanking her were two floating balls of fire and her regal baring commanded as much attention as the second act of magic they'd ever witnessed.

 


	3. Let it be this time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty. This seems to be a good breaking point and uses up all the prewritten material I have and then some so thats that. 
> 
> I'll right another chunk of this and then work it into something reassembling readability and then update again after that. Hell maybe this'll train me to keep up with things, even though phone keyboard is a trial and a half.
> 
> Anywho let me know whatcha think and thanks so much for reading.

This was a monster. 

The first seen face to face in generations. They stared at her and she at them, sizing up the differences. 

She was large and radiated power, more by force of willl than because of the magic fire or the gaurd awaiting further instructions. Her horns were small and rounded, her ears covered in the same white furr as the rest of her, and while her eyes looked as human as theirs did her overall resemblance was remarkably similar to that of a goat - goats being one of the few animals that not only took to being underground but  _thrived_ there.

 So well did she carry herself, it took several passes for Kazoo's eyes to see the childern held in her arms. One resembled nothing so much as a yellow scaled lizard in a brown and yellow stripped sweater. The other was the human orphan. 

Both childern looked tired but content. The careful way she held them with her claw tipped paws made it clear that the childern were the safest people in the corridor. Her hard foreboding gaze seconded that feeling.

"You would be the mages then." Her voice was heavy enough with the weight of responsibility that it seemed to echo through time, and Kazoo was sure this was not the first time they'd heard the words.

This must be the deciding interaction then. If they get to finally break the cycle, or of fate drags them backwards again in an attempt to get things right.

The same _un_ surpise marked the faces of the other five, the same surety in all their baring. Something as big as the title of mages should should rouse something - there had been no mages or magic since the seven - but all Kazoo felt from herself and the others was resignation and determination. 

 Suddenly the red line leading to the human child snapped taunt and her eyes met their glowing red ones. 

The little voice in the back of her head that had been whispering  _wait wait wait_ since the barrier fell stoped its quiet chanting and breathed  _almost._

The child looked away from Kazoo and met Oseda's eyes and with a sharp nod, she seemed to float to the front of the group.

* * *

 

"That would explain a few things, your majesty." Her calm tone seemed to slice through the gathering tension.

How she knew the impressive figure before them was the queen was easy. Oseda was dancer who had perfect control over both her body and her mind. She remembered everything with perfect clarity simply because it was integral to her that she did. Everything was always fuzzy when time turned back, but she didn't put up with that nonsense and by the end of the first day Oseda recalled everything. 

With time and practice she hardly even had to work at it. She lept into the spokesperson role easily, having seen how hot headed half of them were and how the others couldn't recall what had nettled the situation out of hand before.

"I am Oseda, a ballet instructor." She gestured at each in turn introducing them, glad they had at least gotten past the point of introductions amoungst themselves, and of concern that she could remember things they had not yet mentioned. "This is Ralok a cook. Hitch a ring fighter. Kazoo a seamstress. Duaom here is a security gaurd. And Aigas a student, but one at the highest levels of education."

No one interrupted her this time, instinctively trusting her, and for that she was greatful. Dying that one time had been... Unpleasant. "We're all from different walks of life, drawn here long before anyone else has even realized that the childern have broken the barrier and given us this fresh oppertunity for peace." 

There was a brief hesitation as if the queen was torn between two different urges - maybe more than half remembered violence and her own more motherly nature - but with a simple pat from the human child she sighed. "I am ... Acting Queen while the king recovers. You may call me Toriel."

Her burning eyes - much like the flames that she commanded - locked onto Oseda's. "And I do not know that the past is so easily forgotten... For either side."

Duaom stepped forward, hands open and unthreatening at her sides. "Humans lost the war and the original seven bound us inside the mountain as an agreed upon punishment until such a time there was a possibility that we had learned to try. We've _paid_ for the sins of our fathers. It wouldn't be  _right_ to lock us away again without at least giving us a  _chance."_

Aigas stayed standing slightly behind Duaom but also nervously added his perspective. "Some half forgotten story is irrelevant to the reality that the barrier _is_  broken now thanks to those two."

The queens grip tightened proactively around the childern, but she seemed to be listening. Letting them build their case.

"Frisk there," said Ralok grinning easily, "hasn't had a proper family since the cave in last month. Them and that sprout found one in one another and did the impossible because of it. Seems to me a good example to follow." The big man shrugged.

Hitch took several steps foward causing everyone, human and monster alike, to tense. "Look if they wont say it I will. Cat is out of the bag, and the only way youre getting it - us - back in there is scratched all to hell."

This was always the worst part to Oseda. Sometime's Hitch's bluntness just made it worse, others it showed their commitment to this moment. There was no telling which words he'd choose or which way the ax would fall.

"Humans, we've never been scared of a fight - hell we're so damn good at it that we do it for fun - but its beyond time we worked on fighting _for_ something instead of against it."

There was no flaring of nostrils, or change in the intensity of the queen's gaze, so Oseda took the lead again.

"We understand that trust is earned your majesty, just grant us the opportunity." It wasn't easy, to wait for that moment of decision. Especially when they'd been here so many times before.

Once they'd fought their way out, another time they were simply gunned down by a rain of magical spears. Sometime's they just agreed to putting up the barrier because there was little hope of the two races getting along. But they had to keep coming back to this moment for a reason. There had to be a way foward.

Finally the queen sighed. "I hope for the children's sake you do not make me regret our decision." Shifting the childern to one arm the queen presented a scroll. "I've come with a treaty that your leaders _will_ sign."

Toriel's gaze swept over all of them, and there was steal in her voice. "There will be no discussion as it was hard enough to talk Asgore into allowing this document to be created. Once singed, we will start allowing humans out of the mountain on a probationary biases." 

There was hope so much hope hinging on that document but...

"What if they don't sign?" Hitch asked the question none of the rest of them could bare to utter.

"Then you, like your forebarers before you, shall sacrifice yourselfs to restore the barrier until such a time monsters and humans are ready to live in harmony." 

 However many repetitions it had been now, this news had sunk in for them all and there was no suprise or protest.

Oseda nodded. "That's fair." 

Her words sparked agreement in the rest of them. The choice was after all between tiny steps to freedom and a struggle that could end one or both of their races. But now came the hard part, the part they hadn't ever cleared.

It was one thing to agree to go back into the mountain, and another to do so especially since she knew first hand that the queen could very well just decide to seal the way out while they were gone.

* * *

 

 

All around the room they all agreed, knowing what they were vowing to do would set them forever apart from our birth race. And that despite their words of agreement they had not aligned themselves with the monsters.

It was a lonely realization that the six - seven including the child -  of them were set to be either the glue that brought both together or the barrier that continude to keep both apart. 

_ Now. _

Kazoo found herself at the front, carefully retrieving the treaty before Oseda had a chance to. "I'll take it." The child finally blinked, red fading into a dark brown, and yawned, snuggling unconcerned against their friend and the queen. 

Apparently this was the moment, and this was the act she was meant to do.

Turning she mouthed wait at them, before running off back into the mountain. 

She wasn't sure which was worse, the feeling of having to go back or knowing that while she was gone everything could fall apart. 

Kazoo wouldn't even know until she woke up in her bed at the beginning of the week again feeling frustrated and tired with no explanation as to why.

Shuddering at the feeling her pace increased as if she could just be fast enough to out run the fear dogging her steps that there was no future, that her fate was just this endless loop. 

Around her wrist the light blue line tightened as an almost physical thing. 

Surely that meant something?


End file.
